A Child Called "it" by Dave Pelzer

A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer is an intriguing, yet intimidating journey through the torturing childhood of the author himself. Dave being the outcast of his own family and being a victim of severe parental abuse, will leave you in suspense as you wait with anticipation for the end of this little boys struggle to live. This book is a wonderful, and uniquely inspiring story that is sure to touch your heart.

Dave Pelzer, a four-year-old boy, who lived with both of his parents and two siblings, had a relatively normal life. Things soon started to change as his parents’ marriage started to fall apart, resulting in his mother developing an overwhelmingly dangerous alcohol addiction. With her marriage hanging by a thread, Dave's mother began to blame him for that happening, Thus, resulting in upcoming years of unthinkable torture, as well as physical and mental abuse.

At first, this abuse was kept a secret from the world. Including their own family. Dave had become his mothers slave. He had to do every household chore she could think of. Even unnecessary things. He was no longer allowed to interact with anyone but his mother and that was only to experience her disgusting torment. But that wasn't the worst of it. He was not allowed to eat. On rare occasion, he would be able to eat the scrapes he cleaned up after his family ate their meals. In the beginning, his father would try to defend his son, and rescue him from the evil grasp of his wife. But his wife would always give the excuse that Dave was a “bad child”. After his father tried to rescue him, which made his mother even more angered because it made their marriage worse, Dave was forced to sleep in the garage. The scraps from his family that were his survival, were taken away too. Now, Dave was obligated to steal from his school, which happened to be the only place outside of home that he could go. He eventually got caught, and that made his situation with his mother even worse.

As time went on, there came a day when Dave's mother crossed into insanity. She filled a spoon with bleach, and pushed it into his mouth making him ingest the toxic chemical liquid. He quickly lost conscience and was literally smacked back to the living hell, which was his life.

Although these cruel acts were only performed at home, three years of dirty clothes, wounds, and a starving, helpless looking boy began to cause curiosity. To Dave, this was his family “secret”. Letting this out would not only make things worse for him, but it would lower the appearance of his family. He knew in his head that the teachers at school, who constantly interrogated him about his personal life, were his only hope. But their bold attempts to help this little boy were continuously shot down by the famous accusation Dave's mother had now believed herself: “ “IT was a horrible burden on her family.” Dave, an innocent living boy, was only an “IT” in his mother's eyes.

After years of living his mothers sickness, there came a day of relief. Dave was finally rescued. The principle,